13th – Bikers gone wild

Waking up early we had a quick breakfast before being picked up at 0730 to go to the Khardung La pass for the day’s planned activities. As Leh is at around 3500m and our destination was at 5600m it meant that we would be getting some pretty aggressive acclimatization done.

Starting the ascent we came onto a new asphalted road, still having that fresh smell of asphalt. The road was quite narrow at times with barely room for two small cars to pass each other. Combine this with sharp turns (and plenty of hairpin bends along the cliff side) you had very low visibility on several of the stretches during the drive. Not being able to see very far on a narrow road with a fall on one side and cliffs on the other a drive down on bike could potentially become quite exciting.

After having ascended about half way we reached a military checkpoint, and from there on after the road turned into gravel, albeit the width of the road increased slightly.

Reaching the top Bo’s GPS said we were at 5250m, not the announced 5600m. The following was found on Wikipedia after coming home:

The 5,359 m (17,582 ft) elevation measure was taken from a modern GPS survey by a team of researchers.

And

Khardung La is widely, but incorrectly, believed to be the highest vehicle-accessible pass in the world. A well-graded Indian military road […] reaches 5,610 metres (18,406 ft) 250 meters west of the 5,545 metres (18,192 ft) Mana Pass on the India - Tibet border. […] There are also higher motorable passes at Suge La, west of Lhasa, 5,430 m (17,815 feet), and Semo La 5,565 m (18,258 feet), between Raka and Coqen in Central Tibet. […] Vehicles have been driven over the 5,582 metres (18,314 ft) Marsimik La, in the Indian Karakoram to the north-east of Khardung La, but it is debatable whether this pass should be considered to be motorable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khardung_la

Walking around and taking in the views we soon fond our bikes which were then distributed among us and soon we were on our way down. It is to be said that I have not had much experience in cycling in rough terrain (as in: none) and with the blind spots at the sharp turns I took it slow. It didn’t feel very slow, but it didn’t take long for me to end up in the back. No worries – no pressure and it felt nice enjoying the views bumbling down the gravel road. The three cars that brought us up split up in two teams; one went into the front and the two others stayed behind making sure that all made it down. Most in the group seemed to have done similar things before, considering the speed they went ahead. Now and then we were met by others in the group who had turned around and driven up to keep tabs on us in the back and a quick chat before turning around and racing back to the font.

Despite my lack of speed I realized I hadn’t been far behind when we had a short break at the check point. I could feel my palms getting quite sore from all the bumping around on the road. Continuing after the checkpoint and onto the paved road the speeds naturally increased, still with me in the back trying to keep up, but still a bit from the highest recorded speed that day; 62-ish km/h. But despite the constant blind spots around some of the bends I ended up feeling more relaxed – probably because of getting into the rhythm but also because there was no bumping around anymore. The road might have been narrow, but it was smooth!

We were back at the hotel around lunch, slightly dusty and polluted by the constant black smoke that had been bellowing out from the large trucks on the road, but very happy overall. My right hand/wrist was pretty sore, and I wonder when it will pass.

Lunch was had and the planned trip to the Kalachakra was approaching. Unfortunately we were informed the schedule for the afternoon had been moved to the morning in an attempt to avoid the worst heat of the day. Bummer, no Dalai Lama for us. The afternoon was therefore spent on relaxing and walking in Leh to let people get the last things needed before leaving tomorrow.

In the evening we had a short briefing on the following week where the actual trek/climb starts. At dinner we found out that one of the girls in the group had fallen ill, but it seems as if it will be an easy day tomorrow, and as it is road all the way to camp (5-ish hours walk down to 3200m) she will be able to get a lift all the way if necessary. Poor girl, let’s hope she gets better fast!

Not all places are equally hospitable.

A lot of signs are standing around promoting the non-truth. But apart from that the views are not bad. At all.

12th – The monasteries

Woke up with no headaches. Success!

This day was spent on a relaxing tour in the area where we drive around to see three major monasteries; Hemis, Thiksay and Shey. They were beautiful but otherwise classical in their appearance. Imagine an average Buddhist temple in the Himalayas, how it’s either perched on a top somewhere or almost molded into the side of a mountain, and you’re pretty much spot on with how these looked.

The interiors were beautifully painted with the usual Buddhist images. Some of the paintings were so detailed that you could keep looking at them for an extended time and keep seeing new small details popping up in the images.

On the way home from the monasteries we came through the area of the Kalachakra. People were now on their way home/back to their camps, and seeing most of 150.000 people leaving in one go was utter chaos. Massive traffic on small roads (apparently they had diverted the “wrong” direction traffic around and away so they could utilize the entire road for the one necessary direction), several close encounters, large amounts of honking, dust and heat (long live AC!) made it an interesting – or maybe even fun – experience to have had. But thank god it was only that one time we had such chaotic traffic to navigate.

Coming back we spent the rest of the afternoon in Leh before going to the hotel for dinner.

Tomorrow we will be leaving early to go to Khardung La at 5600m, which is the highest drivable pass in the world, to force some acclimatization. We will be going by cars up, but bikes will be brought with us which we will drive down back to the hotel. We will likely be back around lunch time, so hopefully that means we will have time to go out in the afternoon to see the last of the Kalachakra.

Hemis monastery.

Check out the details of the image!

This friendly fella (and his twin) was found at Thiksay monastery.

9 stupas with Thiksay monastery in the background.

Shey monastery.

11th – Going to Leh

Despite being on a flight at 0650 we arrived at the airport and starting checking in at around 0430. According to our papers and reservation confirmations we would have a weight limit of 23 kg on the flight to Leh. When checking in the employees – for some of us – insisted the limit was 15kg and we therefore had to pay for the excess luggage. Bo and I were two of the affected so we were referred to another booth to handle the payment. We managed to convince them that our reservations said 23kg but they insisted on seeing our boarding passes for our previous flight to prove that we had just arrived and therefore didn’t know any better. Bo had his handled immediately, whereas I, for the first time ever, had cleaned out the paperwork for the now (I assumed) non-relevant flight to Delhi. With long talks back and forth we managed to convince them that we (Bo, I and the others) had been on the same flight and both our fees were waivered. That was much more stupid than it had to be.

Going through security my bag was stopped and I was told that they had to confiscate my scissors. I informed them that there were none in in my bag, and they emptied the bag and brought the things through the scanner separately again. Yup – they could still see the scissors. They then came over and began a thorough search of my bag. A couple of years ago I received a small first aid kit from my the travel insurance I usually use; as I already had/have a larger kit I decided to keep this one as a spare in the bag I use as a carry-on and day-pack. Because I already had one with what I needed I never took a thorough look at what the small kit contained. See where this is going? Yes, security found a small pair of scissors. I apologized profusely that I had completely forgotten about it and therefore constantly insisting I didn’t have any, they apologized for confiscating it, and that was it.

2 years I have had the small first aid kit. All that time it was in my carry-on bag. I have been travelling quite a lot the previous years, but not until now the scissors were found. Yeah…

The rest of the stay at the airport and the flight to Leh was uneventful and at around 1000 we arrived at the hotel where we met the last participant of the group.

After a short rest and check-in we took a walk through the town to get our bearings. Apparently the Dalai Lama is nearby doing his teachings these days so some of us are discussing trying to get a chance to go and see him if we have the time at some point when in Leh. This is something he does regularly in different places in the world; it’s called the Kalachakra and apparently the first time in more than 20 years it is done near Leh. We had lunch at the hotel, a couple of hours rest before we had a walk up to Shanti Stupa, a stupa just outside the town. In the evening we met up with out guides for the next couple of days while situated in Leh. Dinner at 2000 and afterwards everyone pretty much just went to bed.

I can easily feel that we've come directly from New Delhi to Leh at 3500m. After having been drinking plenty of water I expect tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep, to be much better (and less headache-ish).

A cup of tea was had at the hotel upon arrival. Stok Kangri can be seen in the distance.

Leh.

Shanti Stupa.

9th-10th – Departure and arrival in India

We met up at Copenhagen airport in the morning with the group before checking in. I had met both our tour leader (Bo) and one of the other participants before; when climbing Ararat an Elbrus, respectively.

Checking in was a breeze, boarding went without a hitch and we were soon on our way to New Delhi via Istanbul. We flew with Turkish Airlines which gave me reason to worry as they had managed to lose 2 of 14’s luggage when going to Ararat, and it didn’t help that I had heard similar – and worse – stories about them from others, too.

Anyway, off we went to Istanbul where we had a 4 hour layover. We found a café pulled a bit back from the main area of the airport which meant that our drink break was a relaxing and calm one. We continued to New Delhi where we arrived according to schedule at 0430 in the morning. To my surprise – and relief – we all received our bags. Success!

We were picked up by a local contact and after a short drive we arrived at the hotel. We were checked in and had a couple of hours of rest before breakfast and leaving for at city tour at 1100.

Luckily the bus we drove in had AC; the temperature was, as we found out later, up and reaching 40°C with high humidity. That was fun when walking around. The tour brought us to the Qutab Complex, a ruin of a Buddhist temple with a largest stone tower (Qutab Minar) in India which is 72,5m tall, a botanical garden (Lodhi Garden), India Gate and the center of the city. Our lunch was had at a high-end restaurant in the embassy district. The food was great but it took the waiters 3 tries to get the bills correct (and the last attempt they relied on manual corrections with a pen to make it fit).

As the hotel was located close to the airport it meant that it was a bit away from anything interesting in the city so that meant when coming back in the evening from the tour we had our dinner at the hotel. Early departure tomorrow at 0415!

Qutab Minar.

A temple located in Lodhi Garden.

India Gate.

19th – 20th - Going home

Today was the last day in Kenya. We left the lodge to drive back to Nairobi and go to the airport. We were in no hurry, though as our flights weren’t until after 2200.

Not much happened on the drive back. My driver told me at one point that while we had been waiting to be let into Masai Mara on the first day he had taken a photo of us waiting outside the office with his phone and sent it to a newspaper. The photo was apparently part of an article the following day about the group of a minister and VIPs who couldn’t get into the park. My driver promised to contact the press outlets when he would have time to get a copy which he would then scan and send to me. Hopefully he will follow through with it one day!

Going back we passed through the great rift valley from where we ascended alone one of the sides. We stopped at a view point but to be honest it wasn’t that impressive. It looked mostly just like a very large valley as opposed to when I saw it in Tanzania where it was rocky and you could actually see a crack going through the landscape.

Coming back to Nairobi we were shown a couple of places in the city; the governmental area and some viewpoints before we headed towards the airport. Here we had a few hours to kill which was done at the airport’s only (small) cafeteria, and after some waiting we were finally on the plane and on our way back north again.

18th - Masai Mara

Let’s handle the disappointments first to get that out of the way.

The itinerary says about the two days in Masai Mara, day 7 (yesterday); “the next days we go on game drives morning and afternoon”, day 8; “Today we are once again going on game drives”. So my surprise (and disappointment) was great when I realized that we were having lunch back at the lodge and not going to be picked up until tomorrow morning when we are going back to Nairobi to catch the flight home. The long lunch break in Samburu and this frustratingly restless afternoon means that the 3 promised full day game drives were basically cut down to 2. Needless to say I am not planning on going with this company again.

Anyways, on with the other stuff…

We departed as planned at 0800. Today I had 3 guests with me in the car, a couple and their 2-ish year old daughter. Apparently their guide had to leave to assist some stranded tourists somewhere, so the 3 of them joined us to be delivered to the park’s airstrip where they would need to catch a flight to Mozambique. The guy was Icelandic living in Germany with his Spanish girlfriend (I assume as the spoke Spanish together). Within these couple of hours we share the car I felt a better social interaction going on than before on this trip. Obviously that might not sound like much after my previous rant, but I genuinely enjoyed their company even though I had to sacrifice some of my space in the car. All for a good cause!

Passing through registration was a breeze; we didn’t even stop on the way. I was told later that someone had made a phone call which had made it all the way up to Kenya’s minister of tourism who in turn had made some calls that had made it down to the registration office. He was apparently very unhappy hearing about a Danish minister and his group of VIPs being stuck at registration for hours yesterday.

Anyway; we saw a lot of game as usual, but no cats, not even lions. Someone spotted a leopard crossing the road and we (3 groups in 3 cars and a bunch of other vehicles) starting circling the area the leopard had walked into trying to spot it. But one had to have in mind that the area was still a 3-6sqkm area we were not allowed to enter which meant that the leopard could be hiding anywhere or even have crossed a road somewhere else out of sight and entirely left the area. So the search was without result.

We had a short break where I relocated into group 2’s car so my driver could get the small family to their flight. Coming back was uneventful and the rest of the day I believe has already been covered previously.

Black-backed jackal.

Vulturine guineafowl.

Banded mongoose.

Bored at the lodge in the afternoon until this small fellow came jumping by to take a look. Unfortunately he only stayed a moment before he disappeared up into the trees.

17th - Masai Mara

We left the lodge as planned at 0730 but reaching the park registration booth a couple of minutes later things started going south. Apparently the staff at the registration office (which was basically a large shed at a gate) hadn’t had their systems updated correctly so they hadn’t registered any transfer from the bank as payment for us (all 3 groups). They were not willing to let us through despite the guides being able to show a paper trail from the travel company and bank that the money had been sent.  This resulted in several phone calls. Then discussions. And more phone calls. Group 2 ended up going to the local town where their guide retrieved a wad of cash which was given to the park staff as payment instead – and off we went, almost 3 hours delayed.

Despite it being depressing that we had to wait for so long, less than half an hour in the park we managed to stop right in front of a small bush where two young cheetahs were relaxing in the shade.

Throughout the day we had several sightings of lions, buffalo, elephants, giraffes and what else one would expect to see in such a place.

Unfortunately no leopards we seen but we found fresh tracks from one that had crossed a road not 10 minutes earlier.

In the afternoon the drivers must have received a call over the radio because they suddenly started driving at a much higher pace than usual. After ½-1 hours of hectic driving (which probably felt much worse than it was due to the bad road conditions) we ended up in a cluster of vehicles watching a rhino with two calves (I only saw one of them and it looked like a dirt mound).

We were back at the lodge at 1900, ready for another drive tomorrow at 0800.

Wildebeest.

Plains zebra (common zebra).

Buffalo.

Cheetahs.

Southern ground hornbill.

Masai giraffe.

Grey crowned crane.

Egyptian goose

Young male lion.

It's hard work doing nothing.

Storks.

Spotted hyena.

Rhino. The small dark bump you see to the far right is one of the calves.